Category Equality

My letter to Goldsmiths in support of Maryam Namazie

For what it’s worth, I wrote a letter to the Goldsmiths Student Union and University Communications team in support of Maryam Namazie. If you are unaware of what has recently been going on, Namazie, an atheist ex-Muslim secularist was asked to speak to the Goldsmiths Uni Atheists and Humanists. However, she was hounded at the talk by members of ISOC, the Islamic Society. Amazingly, and this is pretty shocking, ISOC’s actions and stance was then supported by Goldsmiths Feminist Society and the LGBTQ Society!

Feminism, Jess Phillips (MP) and MRA nonsense

Today is sponsored by:

Gender differences/outcomes ≠ gender inequality (of opportunity, rights and respect)

Let me explain.

For those of you outside of the UK or not following some current news in the UK, some rabid argumentation has erupted concerning the Labour MP Jess Phillips concerning a Tory MP’s demands for an International Men’s Day to discuss men’s matters. Apparently, the feminism is pretty evil (from what I have been reading) and men are discriminated against to the point that they need their own International Day

Dawkins, Islam and feminism

Dawkins has just been trashed by a feminist guest contributor to The Friendly Atheist. TFA is usually well on the money, but this recent article had me annoyed. A lot.

It all started with this seemingly innocuous tweet:

Petition for Jenner to give back medals…

Is it a poe?

That’s the question. It is written in such a way that it reads to me as a poe. Here is the chang.org petition description which comes in light of Olympic athlete and medal-winner Bruce Jenner’s recent announcement of being trans and having a transition to Caitlyn Jenner. There has been some controversy in this announcement in the way it has been reported by some outlets. There are a whole host of people who have had their introduction to the transgender movement and they are not quite sure how to say thing, whether to take the piss, or whether to treat the story in a more repectable manner. Here is the description:

Rooney Rule and Positive Descrimination

This is something I wrote four years ago on my previous blog, but thought it was interesting to bring up again. I thought about it in response to a comment over on fellow writer Rebecca Bradley’s Lateral Truth piece, “Social Justice: A Millenarian Movement”:

Recently, the PFA (Professional Footballers’ Association) has been toying with the idea of employing the Rooney Rule when shortlisting and interviewing candidates for managerial positions in football clubs in England. The rule demands that clubs must interview at least one black person for manager when recruiting.

UKIP Christian group: Manchester Pride is a ‘parade of depravity’

UKIP, The British, but more popular version of the Tea Party, is stooping to new lows, as if that was possible. One of their authorised group, a Christian group whose tag line is “Fighting through Christ for deliverance form EU tyranny”, has made declarations about homosexuality and Manchester’s gay Pride event which seem right out of a previous century. This is from The Pink News (H/T Matthew Coussell through via Hope Not Hate):

Privilege

I like this simple explanation from Buzzfeed: I once saw a high school teacher lead a simple, powerful exercise to…

Little Girl Taken Out Of Christian School After Told She’s Too Much Like A Boy

Timberlake, VA – Sports, sneakers, and short hair; it’s what makes eight year old Sunnie Kahle unique. It’s also what had her removed from Timberlake Christian School. Her grandparents pulled the plug on her time there after they said she was no longer welcome.

The family received a letter telling them that if their eight year old granddaughter didn’t follow the school’s “biblical standards,” that she’d be refused enrollment next year. She’s out and in public school now.

“Psychology Gone Astray” – an excerpt from an upcoming Onus Books release

Dr Caleb W. Lack, purveyor of the fine opinions and science over at Great Plains Skeptic here at SIN, already has two Onus Books publications:

Mood Disorders: An Introduction

Anxiety Disorders: An Introduction

These great little introductory texts illuminate the latest understandings on these conditions. Look out for one on OCD to come. Further to such contributions to the Onus Books portfolio, he is, with a fellow psychologist, producing a text called “Psychology Gone Astray: A Selection of Racist & Sexist Literature from Early Psychological Research”. Here is a post from his blog to describe the project. In reading the MS to edit it, I am finding much of interest in this early, pseudoscientific era of the discipline:

Proof (again) that the Daily Mail is a Racist, Sexist, Bigoted Diatribe

I am no fan of the right-wing espouser of nonsense and lies that is the Daily Mail. It is a horrible UK paper. For those across the pond who don’t know, it has a rather chequered history, supporting the Nazis way back when and then continuing in the vein ever since. Not really chequered, ac
++tually. All bad. I have written myself to the Mail about a misrepresentation of statistics once in their headline article which effectively amounted to lies.